Patrick Bumatay appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, on October 30, 2019. Patrick Bumatay appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, on Oct. 30, 2019.

 

The U.S. Senate has voted to confirm Southern California federal prosecutor Patrick Bumatay to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Confirmed in a 53-40 vote Tuesday, Bumatay becomes the first openly gay appellate judge appointed by President Donald Trump and the first of Filipino descent.

Bumatay also becomes the ninth Ninth Circuit judge appointed by the president to fill one of the court's 29 active judge seats. He's also the fourth judge confirmed to a seat based in California despite objections from the state's two Democratic U.S. senators.

As they did before with the nominations of Judges Kenneth Lee, Daniel Collins and Daniel Bress, Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris declined to return so-called blue slips indicating their sign-off on Bumatay's nomination. Feinstein said at the Senate Judiciary hearing on Bumatay's nomination that she appreciated the diversity he would bring to the bench, but that she had concerns about his lack of appellate experience. Harris had previously cited Bumatay's lack of experience and "a troubling prosecutorial record" in announcing her opposition to the nomination.

Bumatay served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the appellate and narcotics sections of the Southern District of California in the run-up to his nomination. The president initially tapped him for the Ninth Circuit last year while he was serving as a counselor to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions on criminal issues, including the opioid crisis and transnational organized crime. Early in his career, Bumatay clerked for Judge Timothy Tymkovich on the Tenth Circuit and U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes of the Eastern District of New York.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate voted 53-40 to end debate on the Ninth Circuit nomination of Lawrence VanDyke, setting the stage for a vote on his nomination as soon as Wednesday. VanDyke, the former solicitor general of Nevada and Montana, received a "not qualified" rating from judicial vetters at the American Bar Association and his nomination has faced vocal opposition from LBGTQ groups and gun control advocates. Prior to a party-line vote on VanDyke's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, noted that VanDyke and Bumatay shared the witness table at their confirmation hearing and that Bumatay said that he would be comfortable with VanDyke as a judge or a colleague.

 

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